‘Kingdom Come: Deliverance’ Has The Potential To Be An Incredible RPG

Over the past week, I’ve been doing a little research into some of the RPGs destined for a 2015 release. You’d be surprised just how many there are. But, out of the scores of games coming out this year, one glistened in the crowd. One title stood out from the rest and, as you’ve probably gathered from the title of this article, that game was Kingdom Come: Deliverance. As soon as I started reading about this crowd-funded RPG, I was completely hooked. It sounds like the RPG that I’ve always dreamed of and, in my opinion, its potential seems boundless. Of course writing all of this is one thing, but justifying it is another. So I’ve spent a fair bit of time reading up about the game, and trying to get a sense of what we can expect from this open-world, first person realistic RPG.

For me, the game’s greatest potential can be found within the world itself. Warhorse Studios is developing a deep, rich and diverse world full of intelligent NPCs for Kingdom Come. The world is based on real life settings, and it’s populated with small villages and hamlets, a large city, sprawling forests, castles and a number of caves, mines and catacombs. The world is around 3.5 square miles, and it looks absolutely stunning too. The NPCs really play in to this living, breathing world, as they are all part of the ecosystem of the game. NPCs will have daily routines, and these routines can be directly affected by the player, or by the player’s actions in the world. All of this is rounded off by an intelligent reputation system. Your actions spread trough the world by word of mouth – and both good and bad deeds will go reported. Committing crimes will see you landed with a fine, jail time or even being subjected to torture, and getting a reputation for being unlawful will impact how the NPCs react to you in the world. It really does seem like it will be an immersive experience, in a world that should seem almost alive.

As with any mêlée weapons based RPG, the combat can sometimes be the make or break for a game. Luckily for us, Warhorse Studios has a pretty decent concept of how the combat will play out. Weapons range from longswords, to axes, and even crossbows and each weapon will have a different effect, depending on how you’re using it. For example, swords won’t work overly well against plate armour, whereas hammers will. When it comes to actually fighting with these weapons, the style and techniques for combat have been modelled on how those in the 15th century would have fought. Targets react to being hit, but the weapons, hands and arms of your character also react to landing the blow – realism really seems to be the key to combat in Kingdom Come. The most exciting aspect, for me at least, is the battles and sieges that Warhorse Studios will be bringing in to the game. These won’t be regular occurrences, but they are promising to be grand and intense. Very little information about how many characters will be involved in these battles is yet to be disclosed, but they’re definitely going to be exciting! If you want to watch a video from the developers about the combat in Kingdom Come, check out the video on the top right of the page titled ‘What We’re Watchin’.

Something that Warhorse Studios has been very open about is the fact that they’re aiming for quality rather than quantity. I don’t think that this is going to be an extensive RPG, with hours and hours of gameplay. I can’t see it being on the scale of Dragon Age: Inquisition, for instance. But one thing that the developer is promising is to avoid the old clichés. When it comes to quests and activities, Warhorse is trying to make sure that each is different and unlike the sorts of quests we’ve played before. I guess that this is going to be the game for those of us who are tired of being a glorified deliveryman or errand-boy. Not only that, but there’s also going to be a number of ways to accomplish an objective and, where appropriate, you might be able to complete a quest with a non-violent solution. Pretty much anything that can be made playable in Kingdom Come will be made playable, and that includes crafting. I love crafting and creating weapons in games. There’s something so personal about gathering recourses, crafting a weapon and then using that weapon on your enemies. In Kingdom Come, Warhorse has taken crafting to the next level because it will have its own mini-game! Your character is the son of a blacksmith, so having the ability to make and maintain weapons fits with the character. However, this is a skill based activity – so I guess that the more you craft weapons, the better you’ll be at it.

Character customisation is always a key selling point for me when it comes to a decent RPG. I like to have lots of control over how my character looks, and I’m even happier if I can have control over how my character appears to others. I’m not overly sure as to whether or not you can customise the features of the main character, but you definitely have a lot of choice over the clothes that he wears. You have 20 slots for weapons and items of clothing and four different layers to apply them to, so that’s a lot of customisation. Impressively, the clothes that you wear and the condition that they’re in also has an impact on how the world and its people react to you. Again, it gives a sense of how alive this world could be.

The level of detail in this game is pretty astonishing really. Warhorse seems to have gone guns blazing with the development of this game, and it looks as though Kingdom Come: Deliverance is going to be an immersive, well thought out RPG. So it’s safe to say that I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on this game later in the year! If you want to see more images of the game, as well as a few videos too, check out their site – here.